As a dreamer your heart carries a spark.
You set yourself out for big things, big goals and you desire to achieve every one of them.
Along the way though you realize that there are gaps you may not be able to fill.
Discouragement hits you.
The spark inside your heart dies off and you wonder how others succeeded in their goals while you did not succeed.
I like what David Fisher says in his book, ‘Networking in the 21st century…. for millennials’
“If we want to rise to the heights of our fields, develop reputations as skilled and competent experts, and become financially successful, we need help from others.”
That’s the entire truth. The ones who succeed learn to knock on doors and ask for help , they learn to build valuable connections.
They understand that for every one of the frustrating gaps in their journey, there need someone out there who can help fill the gaps.
We all need help from others, we need someone who can help “cross the t’s and dot the i’s”.
Whether it is career or business you are building, it is important to create a strong personal network.
Therefore connecting with people is something that you must become good at if you want to succeed.
Otherwise you will spend a lot of energy, a lot of money searching for solutions and doing the things someone else could have easily done for you.
What type of people must you include in your connections?
You need to connect with people who can create a difference on your journey.
Connect yourself with people who will help you succeed.
The right people will help you shave off what would have otherwise been long hours of hassling.
When you build a robust personal network you will have people who are just one communication away. When faced with challenges, these are the relationships you can lean on.
Connect with people who have skills and knowledge you don’t have.
These are the people who are a step ahead and are masters of the craft.
When taking a journey sometimes you may not have all the expertise these people will take you where your abilities start to limit you. You become beneficiary of their mastery and inherit their insights. In this way instead of investing effort to learn a new skill, you can then focus on the things you are good, the things you can be more fruitful at.
These are the people that when you connect with you can also learn something from them.
Instead of getting uncomfortable around people who are ahead of you, you should be open to learning from them and maximize on their connection.
Connect with people who have resources you don’t have.
There is no such thing as a self made man. You need others. Great talent alone will not help you succeed, many dreams require resources and you need to have the knack to identify people with resources. You need financers, you need the purse holders, you need resources in all forms.
Connect with people who know someone you don’t.
These people will link you to the world; they always know someone and everyone knows them.
In his book; The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell describes these people as connectors.
They may not provide the answers you need but they play an important role in connecting you to someone who can help you.
They will give you contacts who make things happen. They can connect you to someone with resources that you don’t have.
Connect with people from all levels
“If you could only sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to the people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person.”
Fred Rodgers
Broaden your connections with people from all levels.
You never know, it may be that from those connections that profound relationships are built. While connecting with people opens opportunities for you it is also an opportunity to increase your capacity to serve others. Even those people who are steps behind you are worth connecting with. You can serve to build their dreams, you can leave them with something of yourself.
Conclusion
Who is in your connection? Who do you need to include in your network? You will never accomplish anything in the world without taking action. Connections do not just happen. You need to put the extra work in in building them.